Apparent drive-by riddles parked car
Spokane police are seeking information about an apparent drive-by shooting that left bullet holes in a parked vehicle.
Police received a report that shots were fired at a 1998 Ford Bronco around 2:30 a.m. Sunday on the 3300 block of East 18th Avenue. There were four bullet holes in the Bronco, which was parked outside the owner’s home, police spokesman Dick Cottam wrote in a press release.
Witnesses told police they saw a red four-door sedan in the street when the shots were fired. Several shell casings and two slugs were retrieved from the street and yard, police said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Spokane Police Department at 242-TIPS.
Tribe lights planned bluegrass field burn
The Coeur d’Alene Tribe burned 1,385 acres of bluegrass stubble Monday in Benewah and Kootenai counties, sending a smoky haze over Coeur d’Alene.
The tribe had registered to burn up to 2,500 acres Monday. Tribal attorney Eric Van Orden said the tribe plans to burn up to 18,000 acres this season, which is about 10 times the amount that farmers registered for burning on the Rathdrum Prairie.
Burning on the prairie is finished for the year, said George Robinson, who’s in charge of the Idaho Department of Agriculture’s crop residue disposal program. The agency regulates burning of wheat stubble, bluegrass fields and other crop residue statewide, and coordinates smoke management with the Coeur d’Alene and Nez Perce tribes.
Farmers on the Rathdrum Prairie concluded their season’s burning on Aug. 26 after torching 873 acres that day. The prairie’s first burn day of the season was Aug. 16 with 989 acres burned. One other small burn of 70 acres took place between those dates, Robinson said.
The acreage burned on the Rathdrum Prairie has gradually decreased from about 13,000 acres in 1989 because of lawsuits, development pressures and the high cost of insurance.
Police seek help catching scam artist
Investigators are seeking help finding a man who has been selling nonexistent advertising space on area high school sports calendars.
Several business people have reported giving checks to a man who said he worked for a local printing company, JLLOYD Printing, which apparently does not exist, Spokane police spokesman Dick Cottam said in a news release.
The man’s pitch sounds legitimate, police said. He seeks as much as $150 for advertising space on sports schedules, but no advertisement appears.
The latest ads were supposedly for Ferris High School, but reports have been received for similar frauds involving at least two other schools, Cottam said.
Anyone seeking to buy advertising in the sports schedules should first check with the school, Cottam said.
The suspected scam artist is described as a white man in his 40s or 50s. He stands about 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 8 inches. In one case, a victim said the suspect had bad teeth, Cottam said. Anyone with information about the suspect is asked to call the TIPS Line at (509) 242-TIPS (8477).
Class aims to alleviate fear of opera
Opera-phobes and opera neophytes are invited to a class offered Saturday by Opera Plus that’s meant to increase appreciation and understanding of opera in advance of a Coeur d’Alene production of “The Barber of Seville.”
“All You Ever Wanted to Know About Opera But Were Afraid to Ask,” taught by Fred Glienna, will feature video clips, audio excerpts from famous operas and background stories to introduce future fans to the art form. The class fee is $15.
A major part of the class will be devoted to “The Barber of Seville,” which is being performed by Opera Plus Oct. 8-9 in Boswell Hall at North Idaho College.
For more information, call (208) 667-7507.
Man charged with vehicular homicide
George, Wash.
The Grant County Sheriff’s Office has charged a 19-year-old Royal City, Wash., man with vehicular homicide and three counts of vehicular assault following a fatal rollover crash early Sunday.
Eleazar Victoriano Tlatempa, 19, was charged after he failed to negotiate a curve in his 2000 Plymouth Neon on Road 11 SW, four miles southeast of George, about 1 a.m. Sunday, Sheriff Frank De Trolio said in a news release.
According to the investigating deputy, speed and alcohol were contributing factors to the crash. Ejected from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene was 20-year-old Isreal Justo Vicente, of Royal City. He was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.
Other passengers, all of Royal City, were 21-year-old Ceasra Delacruz, 20-year-old Delacruz Villava and a 15-year-old male whose name wasn’t released. All three were wearing seat belts and were transported to Samaritan Hospital in Moses Lake. All were treated and released.
The 19-year-old suspect also was transported to Samaritan, where he was treated, processed for DUI and later placed under arrest. He was booked into the Grant County Jail under the vehicular homicide and assault charge, De Trolio said.
Problems with Rainier emergency sirens fixed
Tacoma
Emergency officials in Pierce County say they have corrected problems that have caused sirens to go off accidentally, falsely warning that there might be a giant slide of rock, ice and mud shooting off Mount Rainier.
Sirens have gone off accidentally half a dozen times since 2002 in towns such as Orting and Puyallup. Two sirens went off in February, and one went off last month.
The sirens also are tested twice a year. Emergency officials say they’re concerned that the false alarms may prevent a quick reaction from thousands of people if a volcanic mudflow actually occurs.
They’re getting ready for another siren test later this month or early next month. The alarms have shown their imperfection not only by accidentally going off, but sometimes also by failing to sound during tests.
Since 2002, Pierce County and other local governments have nearly doubled the number of sirens in the Puyallup and Orting river valleys.
Officials are educating the public about the warning system and the dangers of a catastrophic volcanic slide, known as a lahar, said Steve Bailey, director of Pierce County Emergency Management. The false alarms appeared to be largely the result of human errors and have been fixed, he said.